SAIT - Bachelor of Science Construction Project Management

[Dumbass17]

Has anyone thought or done this program?
LINKY LINK

There is an information course tomorrow evening that I have registered for that I will go check out.

I have my civil engineering diploma from SAIT already, so from what I read, I would be able to bridge straight into the 3rd year of this 4 year degree.

I don't know what I'm doing with my life

[My_name_is_Rob]

Through a series of bridge courses, AT and CVT students and alumni will be able to bridge into the third year of the new Bachelor of Science Construction Project Management program

I also got the email about that, but how is that any different than taking the Camosun College bridging and getting a degree at UBC? Aside from being able to get it locally I suppose. The way they mentioned it in the email, it almost sounds like there is a years worth of bridging (series) to get into the 3rd year.

At any rate, you should post up what you find out at the information session.

[Dumbass17]

You are right sir.

I went to the information session last night, kind of glad I went but wasn't too informative at it's a new program and the first year of students will graduate soon.

I found it was rather odd that out of 30+ people there, I was the only one with a civil diploma. Everyone else had random backgrounds. One guy was a cabinet maker and had his heart set on being able to bridge into 3rd year lol.

Anyways, from the sounds of it, if you went to SAIT previously and have a diploma in Civil Engineering Technology - Construction Management option then you have ~6months of bridging to do prior to joining the 3rd year of the bachelor program. If you took Civil Engineering Technology - Municipal option (myself) then you have ~1year worth of bridging courses to do prior to joining the 3rd year. So to get a degree, I would need to dedicate 3 years of schooling.

Also, its full time schooling. It is not a program that I can manage to do a full time career and do the schooling, which is what I wanted to find out, but unfortunately, it's not structured so.

It sounds like a pretty neat program, but since it is so new, and has zero graduates already, I don't know how successful it's going to be. Or if prospective employers will prefer/seek to hire someone with the designation. I also don't know if it would give the holders of the degree any benefit in seeking jobs or salary compensation.

[AudiPWR]

I got my BSc in CM from Colorado State University.

I'm not sure how similar program is but all I can say is generals and subcontractors bust a nut of over my degree. I've heard it many times, and I know for fact that I have a way better edge in the industry than any civil engineer. I can still get my P.Eng too.

I would get it, everyone has a diploma in this industry, not everyone has a degree. It will help you stand out significantly.

My .02.

[My_name_is_Rob]

Its strange that it favours the construction management option with more credits, while the other uni transfers favoured the municipal option. Although I suppose it is "Construction Project Management"

I wonder how many years of bridging the cabinet maker would have to do for it, or if there is a mature student registration option.

@AudiPWR Is the desirability of your CM degree over regular civil degrees, just because its a little more specialized? Or how does that work?

[AudiPWR]

Rob, I beleive it's because the civil engineers who I compete with bring little practical constitution knowledge to the table and generally only technical skills. In my degree I covered all aspects of construction from scheduling, estimating, contract management, etc.. Where as the civil engineering programs barely touch base on these subjects. Sure I don't have as much freedom as they do in regards to jobs but I knew I wanted to be in project management and I know there isn't a better degree to shine in that field.

[My_name_is_Rob]

That makes sense. The Civil degree is more geared towards design, and yours is specifically geared towards project management I suppose.

I wonder how similar the SAIT CPM degree is then? I guess we will have to wait for the grads to finish up and inform us.

[Dumbass17]

@Rob,

Yup that's kind of what I'm waiting for.
I can't afford to take 3 years off of school and not work, but I just wanted to see what it's all about. Maybe in the future they will re-structure the program and offer evening classes, which is what I hoped for. The info session presenters said this could be a possibility but the program is just too fresh to offer that at this point.

I don't 'love' the engineering side of, well, engineering. I have the mindest of 'build it already' rather than the technical side of it, if that makes sense. Kind of why I'd rather get a PM degree vs. normal engineering degree. PLUS, with the PM degree, I think one would be able to transfer across industries, rather than being pigeon-holed by civil, for example.

[rinny]

How... Is this a bachelor's of science degree, usually they reserve this science term for programs that require the use of experimentation and analytical math skills. Not just organizing and managing a project. Should be called bachelor's of human resources or bachelor of arts in construction planning.

[94boosted]

OP one thing to keep in mind about this program is that it doesn't lead to a P.Eng. designation with APEGA so you really should ask yourself if the extra 2.5 years of school will be of much benefit to you. SAIT pisses me off with these programs that don't lead to any designations (I'm a CVT Construction Management and a Bachelors of Applied Tech in Petroleum Engineering Grad). If you want to follow the engineering path you're no further ahead with this BSc CM degree than with just your CVT as you can get your PL.Eng. with 6 years of work experience. Just my $0.02.

Originally posted by rinny
How... Is this a bachelor's of science degree, usually they reserve this science term for programs that require the use of experimentation and analytical math skills. Not just organizing and managing a project. Should be called bachelor's of human resources or bachelor of arts in construction planning.

Have you even looked at the curriculum or the courses?

[TL911]

Originally posted by 94boosted
OP one thing to keep in mind about this program is that it doesn't lead to a P.Eng. designation with APEGA so you really should ask yourself if the extra 2.5 years of school will be of much benefit to you. SAIT pisses me off with these programs that don't lead to any designations (I'm a CVT Construction Management and a Bachelors of Applied Tech in Petroleum Engineering Grad). If you want to follow the engineering path you're no further ahead with this BSc CM degree than with just your CVT as you can get your PL.Eng. with 6 years of work experience. Just my $0.02.



Have you even looked at the curriculum or the courses?

Totally agree with 94boosted! I did go to the info night a couple years ago. It's a waste of time in my opinion because at the end of the day you don't have a P.Eng designation...not even PMP (Project Management Professional) you get the same designation as a Surveyor....best is do the bridge program at the two uni's that sait offers...you will be better off in the long run a P.Eng designation will open far more doors than the BS BSc degree from SAIT which is not recognized by APPEGA

[dirtsniffer]

Originally posted by 94boosted

Have you even looked at the curriculum or the courses?

program course outline

Looks about half of the technical course load of my science degree.

[94boosted]

Originally posted by TL911


Totally agree with 94boosted! I did go to the info night a couple years ago. It's a waste of time in my opinion because at the end of the day you don't have a P.Eng designation...not even PMP (Project Management Professional) you get the same designation as a Surveyor....best is do the bridge program at the two uni's that sait offers...you will be better off in the long run a P.Eng designation will open far more doors than the BS BSc degree from SAIT which is not recognized by APPEGA

To get your PMP designation I don't think it matters what your degree is in so long as you have a bachelors degree, 4500hours of work experience in project management and the 35 hour course they teach (which I know you can take at SAIT as I did).

http://www.pmi.org/en/Certification/...ional-PMP.aspx

Out of curiosity what did you decide to do TL911? I'm always curious to see what others have done.

Originally posted by dirtsniffer

program course outline

Looks about half of the technical course load of my science degree.

Point is it definitely has a science content, saying it should be an Arts degree is not correct.

[dirtsniffer]

Originally posted by 94boosted

Point is it definitely has a science content, saying it should be an Arts degree is not correct.

Mech eng program course description

I only know about what I took, but comparing the cirriculums it is easy to see why getting a p.eng designation will take an extra 3 years of engineering experience. I can't really comment on what it looks like to other science degrees.

[My_name_is_Rob]

Originally posted by 94boosted
OP one thing to keep in mind about this program is that it doesn't lead to a P.Eng. designation with APEGA so you really should ask yourself if the extra 2.5 years of school will be of much benefit to you. SAIT pisses me off with these programs that don't lead to any designations (I'm a CVT Construction Management and a Bachelors of Applied Tech in Petroleum Engineering Grad). If you want to follow the engineering path you're no further ahead with this BSc CM degree than with just your CVT as you can get your PL.Eng. with 6 years of work experience. Just my $0.02.

I wonder if yours doesn't lead to a P.Eng because its an applied degree? Looking at the credentials on the SAIT website, and it has yours listed under the Applied Degrees, and the CPM is listed under the Bachelor Degrees.

And looking at the course load for the CPM, there seems to be a ton of elective options, how do they have enough students and instructors for those? Is the demand for the course that high already? Or are they just other department courses that are integrated into the curriculum?

[94boosted]

Originally posted by dirtsniffer


Mech eng program course description

I only know about what I took, but comparing the cirriculums it is easy to see why you won't get a p.eng designation out of it. I can't really comment on what it looks like to other science degrees.

Never said that the BSc CM should lead to a P.Eng. as it's definitely not an engineering program, I'm just saying it's a Science degree not an Arts degree.

Originally posted by My_name_is_Rob


I wonder if yours doesn't lead to a P.Eng because its an applied degree? Looking at the credentials on the SAIT website, and it has yours listed under the Applied Degrees, and the CPM is listed under the Bachelor Degrees.

Neither the Bachelors of Applied Tech in Petroleum Engineering or the Bachelors of Science in Construction Management from SAIT lead to a P.Eng. from APEGA, though I know the Macphail School of Energy is looking at doing something with the B.A.T. Petroleum Eng. program (or so the dean told me). The B.A.T. Petroleum Eng. program is weird, there are universities around the world that will let you directly into their M.Eng. programs (i.e. Griffith University) but for the most part the degree is not of much value IMO.

[AudiPWR]

Originally posted by 94boosted
OP one thing to keep in mind about this program is that it doesn't lead to a P.Eng. designation with APEGA so you really should ask yourself if the extra 2.5 years of school will be of much benefit to you. SAIT pisses me off with these programs that don't lead to any designations (I'm a CVT Construction Management and a Bachelors of Applied Tech in Petroleum Engineering Grad). If you want to follow the engineering path you're no further ahead with this BSc CM degree than with just your CVT as you can get your PL.Eng. with 6 years of work experience. Just my $0.02.



Have you even looked at the curriculum or the courses?

Funny how I am an EIT with APEGA with a BSc in CM?

Do some research before you make these claims please.

All you need is at least 3 years of acceptable engineering experience where you’ve demonstrated your technical proficiency through evidence of significant time on the application of technical theory and practical experience.


http://www.apega.ca/pdf/Guidelines/E...quirements.pdf

You're program needs to cover at least 2 years of engineering related studies, and I imagine that this program out of sait covers this.

All you need to get your P.Eng after your an EIT is 4 more years of acceptable work experience. So 7 years total. It takes 3 years longer for a BSc CM to get the P.Eng but YOU CAN.

[94boosted]

Originally posted by AudiPWR


Funny how I am an EIT with APEGA with a BSc in CM?

Do some research before you make these claims please.

All you need is at least 3 years of acceptable engineering experience where you’ve demonstrated your technical proficiency through evidence of significant time on the application of technical theory and practical experience.


http://www.apega.ca/pdf/Guidelines/E...quirements.pdf

You're program needs to cover at least 2 years of engineering related studies, and I imagine that this program out of sait covers this.

All you need to get your P.Eng after your an EIT is 4 more years of acceptable work experience. So 7 years total. It takes 3 years longer for a BSc CM to get the P.Eng but YOU CAN.

You graduated from SAIT's BSc CM program? I wasn't aware there even were graduates from that program yet as it's only a few years old. When I met with the Program Chair he specifically told me that this is not a program designed for engineers and that jives exactly with the expected careers for grads of this program per the program description:

http://www.sait.ca/programs-and-cour...e-overview.php

[TL911]

I decided to stick it out...work for 5 years and go back to the thunder Bay option...after the 5th year and get the full designation of P.Eng...the reason behind that is...you look anywhere for a job....everyone wants experience and min 5 years...so I thought if I can get the degree and have 5 years of experience...your golden...and the P.Eng designation...will open a lot of doors especially in the Civil side to actually travel and work on crazy projects.

[94boosted]

Originally posted by TL911
I decided to stick it out...work for 5 years and go back to the thunder Bay option...after the 5th year and get the full designation of P.Eng...the reason behind that is...you look anywhere for a job....everyone wants experience and min 5 years...so I thought if I can get the degree and have 5 years of experience...your golden...and the P.Eng designation...will open a lot of doors especially in the Civil side to actually travel and work on crazy projects.

Good on you, well done.

I admire the dedication to take that extra 2 years off to get the full degree especially after 5 years of working.